Boot or shoe.



No. 7|,o5s. Patented oct. I4, i902.,

A. F-. LITTLEFIELD.

BOUT 0R SHOE.

(Application :Bled June 17, 1899.)

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AUGUSTINE F. LITTLEFIELD,

BOOT O OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

R;SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters ratent No. 711,058, dated October14, 1902.

Serial No. 720,895. (No model.)

To r//ZZ whom, it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, AUeUs'riNn F. LITTLE- FIELD, of Lynn, in the countyof Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Boot orShoe, of which the following is a specification, reference being had tothe accompanying drawing.

My invention is a lace boot or shoe in which turning back the outer apdisengages the lacing from lacing-hooks on the inner surface of theouter iiap and in which both sets of devices for holding the lacing arebetween the two flaps, so that these devices are shielded by the flapswhen the shoe is laced, or, in other words, my invention is a boot orshoe with lacing-iaps one overlapping the other, with a set oflacing-hooks on the inner surface of the outer or overlapping iiapcooperating with a set of lace-holding devices on the outer surface ofthe inner or overlapped iap, so that both sets of lace-holding deviceswill be between the aps when the shoe is laced, and yet can be unlacedwith great ease and quickness by simply releasing the free end of thelacing and turning the outer flap back, when the lacing will of itselfslip out of the hooks on the inner surface of the outer flap, for byturning the outer ap back those hooks are reversed, as will be clearfrom the drawing-that is, the mouths of the hooks on the inner surfaceof the outer flap open toward the lace-holding devices on the outersurface of the inner iiap when the outer ap is turned back instead ofopening the opposite way, as they do when the shoe is laced.

ln the drawing illustrating my invention, A represents a shoe having aslit or opening in the upper similar to that provided in ordinarybutton-shoes, with one edge overlapping the other in the well-knownmanner.

The main feature of my invention is the two sets of lacing-hooks d andb, located between and secured to the iiaps a' IJ, one set of hooks dbeing secured to the under side of the outer iap a and the other set ofhooks b being secured to the upper face of the inner flap b', the hooksof one set being opposed to the hooks of the other set. The lower end ofthe lacing-cord c is secured on the lowermost hook of one of the sets orelse secured in any suitable manner to the shoe at or near the bottom ofthe slit, and after the cord c is interlaced in the two sets of hooksthe upper end thereof is carried from the uppermost hook to alace-holder d, of any well-known and suitable construction, whichengages the lace and prevents the same from slipping through the hooks.The hooks ce and b of both sets may be of any of the wellknown forms,riveted or otherwise secured to their respective iiaps. Preferably eachhook of .one set occupies a position on its ap which brings it betweentwo hooks on the other ilap,-so that when the flaps are closed the hooksof Vone set are staggered with relation to the hooks of the other set.

XVhat I claim as my invention isln a boot or shoe the combination of twolaps, one of which overlaps the other; a set of lace-holding devicessecured to the outer surface of the inner iiap; a set of lacinghooks sosecured to the under surface of the outer flap that they open away fromthe edge of the outer flap and away from the laceholding devices whenthe shoe is laced but when the outer flap is turned back they opentoward the lace-holding devices; and a lacing adapted to be connectedwith and disconnected from the lacing-hooks, substantially as described.

AUGUSTINE F. LITTLEFIELD.

Wvitnesses:

WM. MAYNADIER, ARTHUR F. RANDALL.

